2013: Year of the liberal billionaire

Democrats and liberal interest groups spent much of 2012 bemoaning an avalanche of outside spending from billionaires on the right, warning that ideological tycoons like the Koch brothers and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson could threaten the legitimacy of the American electoral system.

What a difference a year makes.

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In the off-year campaigns of 2013, liberal and Democratic interests have enjoyed a decisive advantage in the billionaire spending bracket. Indeed, groups tied to just three billionaires — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California investor Tom Steyer and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — have spent well more than $25 million this year pushing progressive candidates and causes.

Their arrival on the political scene, at the same time as many conservative donors remain disheartened from the GOP’s 2012 defeat, represents a shift in power in the arena of big-money campaigns. And it’s the clearest sign that Democrats have abandoned their initial revulsion about outside money in favor of a recognition that they have to play and win by the same political rules as their opponents.

The left’s swift embrace of outside money is disheartening to campaign finance reformers and maddening to Republicans, who argue that the media and political community hold wealthy progressives to a different standard than donors like the Koch brothers.

Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, Steyer’s top adviser, predicted that more liberal super-donors would come forward over the next election cycle and ante up for progressive causes.

“Based on the conversations we’ve had and the interest we’ve had, I think there’s no question that’s going to happen,” Lehane said. “People have looked at what’s happened over the last three or four cycles, and it seemed to them that it’s very important to get involved.”

The current election in Virginia is a case in point: Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC is on track to spend $3 million by Election Day, targeting the Republican candidates for governor and attorney general on the issue of gun control. Steyer, a hedge fund executive, has spent millions through the group NextGen Climate Action on digital and turnout programs, as well as countless negative ads against GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli.

Both Bloomberg and Steyer have been ubiquitous in other 2013 elections: Bloomberg spent some $2.2 million against a National Rifle Association-linked House candidate in Illinois earlier this year, and about a million dollars boosting now-Sen. Cory Booker in a New Jersey special election. He also cut a $350,000 check to a group defending two Colorado state legislators facing recall elections over their support for gun control.

Steyer, meanwhile, put more than $1 million of his own money into the Massachusetts Senate special election that resulted in victory for Democrat Ed Markey, attacking both the Republican nominee in the race and Markey’s primary opponent, Rep. Stephen Lynch, whom he viewed as insufficiently committed to fighting climate change.

All the while, the group FWD.us — which receives a majority of its funding from Zuckerberg — has put about $15 million into advocating for comprehensive immigration reform, according to a source tracking the group’s activities. Those activities have included TV and radio ads boosting legislators in both parties who sign on to the White House’s legislative priority.

Lehane argued that there’s a categorical difference between big spenders like Bloomberg and Steyer, and the ultra-prolific donors on the GOP side in 2012: “The folks who are involved on the Democratic side are not necessarily folks who have a direct financial interest in the policies they are advocating for.”

“The fossil fuel industry spends, probably, more in an hour influencing the political process than Tom has over the course of these campaigns,” Lehane added. “The best solution here is to actually have a political situation where access to resources does not determine who wins and loses. That’s just not the situation right now.”